One Halloween, a psychopathic child murders his sister with a knife. Fifteen years later, he escapes from the asylum where he was locked up. He grabs a mask and returns to his hometown, Haddonfield.

His attention falls on Laurie and her friends. To observe them, he hides in the bushes, in the shadows and imitates their steps. On Halloween night, Laurie goes to the home of a little boy to baby-sit him. For a while, the escape killer has been following her. He knows that the babysitter will be helpless tonight and spies on her from the darkness.

Review

Actors

Plot

Quality

Originality

Slasher movies are the most common type of horror movies. Some people claim that Psycho is responsible for this fact, others believe Halloween is. If murderous rampages, teenager gangs, nude women, psychopathic killers and white masks are your definition of a slasher movie, Halloween is the culprit.

It is interesting to come back to the origins of the genre. In this movie, three teenagers are slowly presented. Their personality is not categorical or cliched but rather, it is subtle. For a long period of time, we see them walking on the streets of their neighborhood, talking about anything. Laurie walks another long moment alone, returning from school. The scenes take their time: they are not rushed or filled with too much detail.

The budget available for this movie was rather limited but still, it is hard to distinguish this movie from other movies of the time based on quality. The actors are credible, even the small children. The theme music is memorable: simple and efficient. However, it is literally omnipresent. It must be playing 30% of the time, without exaggeration. It is excellent to install a lugubrious atmosphere that never lets go but quickly becomes annoying. There should have been another variant or even two or three other melodies.

Halloween is for many the best horror series of all time. I have trouble understanding why. The episodes are incoherent or don’t have any relation whatsoever, the producers then debate on which episodes are "really important" for the story. The original and most of its sequels features an old psychiatrist who thinks he is God, who never stops blubbering, screaming or hurting himself. There is also always a young child targeted by Micheal Myers who, obviously, never dies. I blame Halloween to have tried to introduce immortal characters to which no spectator over 18 will ever be able to identify themselves with.